That Final Inch

Last summer, I nerded out and organized every book I own (hundreds) into a "library" of sorts, separated by genre and type, and then organized by author's last name. My bookshelves strained under the weight of fantasy and sci-fi, mystery and thriller, romance, historical, classics, junior fic, easy-reader, travel and tourism, devotional, and educational resource.

I ran out bookshelf space before I ran out of books, and so I found myself lining my volumes in odd places, like a corner cabinet of a kitchen or a wooden bench. Some of the places I chose didn't have a wall to lean the books against, so I had to hunt down bookends. 

Naturally, as I capsized my house to look for such things, I found only one bookend, but not its matching other side. So I tried only supporting one side of a section of books and having the books on the other end leaning back against the weight of the row. Invariably, I'd walk away and hear the loud clap of a whole section of books falling over.

As a novelist and as an editor, I've learned to love bookends. Not the physical ones that keep your books from falling over, but the ones you find in well-written stories where you begin with an idea and you end with the same idea, and the story in the middle forms a well-rounded sandwich with two pieces of bread that just. makes. so much sense. It's a perfect circle, a complete and satisfying thing.

God, the greatest story-teller ever, showed Abram the best set of bookends in Genesis 15, which details the covenant God made with him. 

To recap: God and Abram are having a conversation about fulfillment. Abram asks God: "Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless?" At that time, his contingency plan involved handing over his estate to a servant in his household, because he and Sarai had not been able to produce a child.

How often, when we are in a barren desert, do we doubt the promises and presence of God? I don't think Abram was asking: What can you give me? like he really wanted to know the things God could give him. The question had a despairing tone to it, and it sounded rhetorical. 

A shrug, and What can you do? I've tried everything. Nothing is working. Oh well. I give up. God isn't going to come through, and I may as well accept it.

In answer, the Lord said to Abram: "This [servant in your household] will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir." God took Abram outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars - if indeed you can count them."

I can almost picture the Lord taking Abram by the shoulders and squaring him up to face Him, like I do sometimes when I want my children's full-on attention. Eye contact, face to face. I'll duck my head to make sure I'm on their level. "So shall your offspring be."

I'm giving you hope. In your despair, I'm bringing you a gift. Are you going to accept it?

"Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Abraham is alluded to all throughout the Scriptures; he was a well-known guy. Who has the song: "Father Abraham... had many sons. Many sons had Faaaather Abraham..." running through their head now?

If you didn't before, you do now. Lol. Sorry, not sorry.

In Romans 4:4-5, it says: "Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness." Down in verse 13 of that same chapter: "It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith."

Romans is a meaty book, tough to chew, but packed with protein. This whole chapter is a picture of the covenant God made with Abram (I'll get to that in a minute), and these verses in particular are referring to the undeserved grace, the full-out extension of the God of the universe to the undeserving created beings He made. We are made righteous before God, not by works, but by faith. And God is the One who makes us righteous. He is the One who does it. Not us. 

Back to Genesis 15 and the covenant. The Lord commands Abram to get a heifer, a goat, a ram, a pigeon, and a dove. Now, it's been a while since I've read Leviticus and Numbers (it's seriously hard to wade through those books; please give me grace on that), but I do recall there being several different kinds of sacrificial offerings Israelites were expected to bring to the priest for their atonement, and it seems to me that this is a pretty comprehensive list of all the pleasing sacrifices that involve blood (grain and vegetable offerings I'm not counting on the basis of Hebrews 11:4 and the contention between Cain and Abel's offerings: "By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did," meaning that Abel sacrificed blood-packed meat offerings and Cain sacrificed bloodless vegetable offerings. Life-blood plays huge significance in God's redemptive story).

After Abram brought the meat, he divided each animal in half to make a sort of pathway between the meat pieces. Then he sat down to wait. 

Verse 12: "As the sun was setting..."

I don't want to give symbolism too prominent a place here, but I love the play of light and dark, day and night, and the significance it finds throughout Scripture: "In Him was life, and that life was the light of man. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5). There's always a tension, a dividing line between the two. 

Darkness cannot exist in the light. It must roll back when light is present.

So the sun sets. Darkness surrounds Abram. Night has come. And Abram falls into a deep sleep.

God speaks a prophecy to Abram regarding his seed, his descendants. He tells exactly what will happen to them regarding their captivity in Egypt, and then goes on to tell Abram's future as well. He promises a huge chunk of land to Abram's descendants while He's at it. 

All of this He says while Sarai is still barren, years before there is even the first sign of fulfillment. Abram has to wait a long time for this promise to happen.

Here's where it gets really interesting, and we get back to that bookend concept. "A smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the [divided pieces of meat]." 

Okay, there are two parts to this: 1.) The smoking firepot, and 2.) the blazing torch. They are two pieces of the same picture, two parts of a whole concept.

I admit, I was so fascinated by this picture, that I looked up several Biblical commentaries on this verse. The smoking firepot is the furnace, the container, the crucible (see my earlier blog about this). It's the aspect of God's character that represents holiness, justice. It's the Ancient of Days, the Ultimate Judge. It's the Refining Fire, it's the Consuming Fire. Hallelujah! And whew!

The blazing torch is the Advocate, the Light in the darkness, the Lamp to our feet, the Light to our path, the Guide, the Director, the Way to the Father, the Glory and the Lifter of our heads! Holy, holy, holy are you, Lord God Almighty!

He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Ancient of Days and the Redeemer, and by His stripes, we are healed!

He is the ultimate set of bookends! In this covenant with Abram, God represented His whole character, the complexity of it and the completeness of it. 

And Abram did nothing except wait as God passed through the pieces on His way to Abram. 

Years ago, I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Italy. Standing in that room with my head tilted back, staring in awe at Michelangelo's incredible artistry, I centered in on the most famous part of the work: where the hand of God reached for Adam's hand.

The hands almost touch. God's fingers are fully extended. Adam's, if he makes the choice, could reach across that final inch and touch the Lord. As it is, they are bent, and there's this sense of... 

Waiting. Expectancy. Will he, or won't he? 

God has already done the work; He's already opened the gate to heaven for anyone who chooses to stretch out their fingertips and find His hand. 

Will we? Will we not? It's our choice. But what an important choice; an eternity hangs on it. 

I can't say this strongly enough: Make your decision, and choose wisely. 

The King of all kings is coming again, and one day, we will be required to give an answer to the Ancient of Days for how we chose. There's no recusing ourselves, no stepping back and bowing out. We will stand before the Judge, and the books will be opened.